Artistic Tile by Paola Orsoni
16 August 2010
“Great Expectations”
One of my favorite lines from “B” action movies is, “EXPECT. the unexpected!” It’s a line that is typically used when some superman commando type is getting his troops ready to storm a heavily fortified building, with perhaps five men on his side and two hundred on theirs. It was also used by Patrick Swayze when he was instructing his barroom bouncers in “Road House,” a movie I watched mostly because my wife has the hots for Swayze. But every time I hear it, I find myself muttering, “Now how in the hell is anyone going to do that?” But I bring that up because, in some regards, I have come to do just that with tile. I have written dozens of blogs on tile now, perhaps as many as fifty, and I have never written about the same tile twice, nor written about a type of tile I have seen before. Always, always, always, someone is doing something new and different with the medium, and it’s gotten to a point where whenever I find myself floundering about in search of a subject for the upcoming week’s blogs, all I really have to do is turn to tile. And the reason’s simple; somewhere someone is doing something entirely unexpected with tile. and I’ve come to expect it!
So, with that we can turn to the subject of today’s blog. Paola Orsoni is an Italian artist who is creating wonderful work in Milan, Italy, which just has to be one of the most intellectually stimulating places on earth. Actually, with my many blogs on the subject, I have come to believe that Italy itself, from one end to the other, teems with outrageously creative people, but the preponderance of them do seem to be in northern Italy. But to bring this back to the work, Paola Orsoni has invented and patented a new method of glass firing onto tiles which enables her to create extraordinary, one-of-a-kind tiles. Actually, they are one-of-a-method tiles because, as I said, hers is a patented technique she created herself, which is something that just blows my mind. I have encountered any number of ceramic artists who have taken tile into different directions, but this is the first one I have encountered who first invented a new method of firing her tile, then used it to create truly one-of-a-kind works.
These tiles come in considerably more designs than I can show here in our limited space, but they are the kind of tiles that lend themselves to all kinds of uses. They can be used on walls almost as one might use a painting, or they can form an unexpected and unique artistic wall covering. They can also be used as an occasional highlighted tile in a wall of more traditional tile. I have also seen them used to wonderful effect as tile covering for occasional tables.
The method Paola Orsoni developed gives her an incredible artistic freedom to create new and different motifs, and she has taken full advantage of it. She has created textured tiles with a wonderful “ice effect” that is actually, because of its innovative coating system, incredibly strong. She is also able to insert metal and plastic pieces into the tiles, giving them unique shapes and patterns. Using this and the intense chromatic spots made possible by her patented technique, she is able to create “pictures” in miniature. Looking at the body of work on her website, I quickly got the impression that the sky’s the limit where she’s concerned. But, really, everything she has done in this motif is extraordinary and utterly unique. It is the UNEXPECTED that one somehow comes to expect from tile makers and Northern Italy and people as talented as Paola Orsoni.
Joseph
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2 Responses to “Artistic Tile by Paola Orsoni”
August 18th, 2010 at 1:34 PM
Beautiful – any relation to the beautiful Venetian Orsoni mosaic (smalti) makers?
August 18th, 2010 at 5:19 PM
I have no idea, Sarah. Ms. Orsoni is someone I found on the Internet. Although, really, I think all of the artists in northern Italy are related in some way, albeit only in the realm of creativity.